U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Wednesday that West Virginia has waited long enough for connecting unserved and underserved homes and businesses to high-speed broadband, calling on the federal government to speed up its review of grant funding.
In a May 7 letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Capito asked Lutnick to expedite the department’s review of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.
“As we have discussed, I am concerned that West Virginia may be told to move back from the 1-yard line to the 40-yard line after the review concludes,” wrote Capito, R-W.Va. “I urge you to expedite not only the review and release of updated guidance but the program as a whole.”
In March, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced that West Virginia was granted a 90-day extension to submit the state’s final proposal for the BEAD program administered by the Department of Commerce’s Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
“When the BEAD program review was initiated on March 5, my state was 6 weeks away from completing the arduous application process after so many steps including a completed fair project selection process,” wrote Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “Removing much of the red-tape from the program in a timely manner, so that my state and all others could move forward even faster, is an ideal outcome.”
The NTIA approved West Virginia’s Volume II Initial Proposal for the BEAD program in April 2024, becoming one of the first three states to have their initial proposals approved. West Virginia was awarded $1.2 billion through the BEAD program in June 2023, funding made possible through the passage of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which was signed into law in 2021 by former President Joe Biden and negotiated by Capito and former senator Joe Manchin.
Capito has previously been critical of the Biden administration for taking up so much time before pushing bipartisan infrastructure dollars out the door to states and putting up multiple requirements slowing down the awarding of BEAD grants.
“The Biden Administration took years and years and burdened states and internet service providers (ISPs) with unnecessary mandates like labor requirements, climate change provisions, and some cumbersome financial requirements and did not connect a single location through BEAD,” Capito wrote to Lutnick. “You can succeed where the previous administration failed and deliver this service quickly and efficiently to millions of Americans primarily in rural areas.”
Concerns have been raised that the Department of Commerce is making changes to the BEAD program to favor satellite internet services, such as Starlink, a satellite internet company owned by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who also serves as an advisor to Trump with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Starlink uses a network of low-orbit satellites.
“The BEAD statute specifically says it is to be a technology neutral program,” Capito wrote. “Some states may prefer fiber, others fixed wireless, and others satellite. Whatever technology or combination of technologies works best for the state and serves the most people while staying within the allocated funding amount should move forward.”
Capito also said that making significant changes to the BEAD program could raise the costs of broadband projects, particularly in places like West Virginia that are rural and mountainous. Reliance on satellite internet in West Virginia may also be problematic.
“West Virginia is the Mountain State, so connecting us may be inherently more expensive than most every other state,” Capito wrote. “In addition, certain technologies are not feasible in many areas not only due to our challenging topography but also because 78% of the state is forested.
“West Virginians have waited long enough, and I hope with your leadership they will soon have broadband access and this will be President (Donald) Trump and your greatest accomplishment for rural America,” Capito continued in her letter to Lutnick.